75 protest St. Paul, MN's Rep Betty McCollum's support of 33Billion more for war

[annm4peace]

As 75 people protest in and out of Betty McCollum's office to impress upon her to vote against 33 billion more dollars to continue the death and destruction in Afghanistan.

Several were arrested.

How ironic, that the 1000 troop in Afghanistan was killed.. and will more women and children.

This is a sad milestone and another reminder to the peace community that we must continue speaking out against this horrendous war.

Congress will soon vote on a $33 billion supplemental funding bill for the U.S. war in Afghanistan. The funds will be used to escalate the war, including an attack this summer on the Afghan city of Kandahar.

we would appreciate your calling her office at 651-224-9191 or 202-225-6631.

Here are some of the personal responses from those at the event:

"we were given tickets and released. all in all it was a 3 1/2 hour protest. the obnoxious part her aide was soo patronizing and McCullom refused to speak to us on the phone. we used to get much better treatment from Sen. Coleman's office!"














So why do we keep voting for Democrats ?????

Shameful.

1. The invasion and 8-year occupation of the sovereign state of Afghanistan are immoral and contrary to international law.
2. Seventy-five percent of Afghans support an Afghan political solution without outside interference; Afghans will never accept an occupation, which aims at increasing U.S. military and political domination in the region.
3. The escalation of U.S. troops will cause increasing numbers of civilian casualties, exacerbate the plight of the Afghan people, and undercut diplomacy and development.
4. The war is spreading to Pakistan, which is leading to a dangerous destabilization in the region and increased hostility toward the U.S.
5. There is no military solution to terrorism.
6. The presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan fuels the conflict; withdrawal of U.S. troops would result in a decrease in conflict and the other horrors of war.
7. Endless wars deprive the U.S. of funds to provide for domestic needs -- investment in the infrastructure, jobs, health care, education, housing, and environmental protection.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4jHk92HyXo&feature=play...

[Coleen Rowley]

1. Betty is a big fan of the "targeted strikes by pilotless drone aircraft"

I didn't realize that Betty McCollum had turned into such a war hawk! On April 9, 2010, Betty wrote this unbelievably off-base rationalization for the illegal drone bombing of Pakistan:

"To confront this threat, intelligence cooperation between U.S. and Pakistani militaries is improving. Unfortunately, the ability and willingness of Pakistani forces to identify and eliminate al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders within their borders has been inconsistent. Until the Government of Pakistan demonstrates the capacity and will to confront the threat, the U.S. is compelled to take necessary action to protect U.S. interests, particularly U.S. service members and civilians. Those actions include targeted strikes against terrorist and enemy leaders carried out by pilotless drone aircraft. The success of this strategy was highlighted when CIA Director Leon Panetta recently told the Washington Post that operations in Pakistan's tribal areas are "seriously disrupting al-Qaeda. We have them on the run."

That last line sounds so similar to Dick Cheney's crazy pronouncement about the Iraqis being "in their last throes" when in fact U.S. casualties were peaking, doesn't it?! It also sounds similar to General Westmoreland and Robert MacNamara's constant rosy predictions during the Vietnam War when they privately were saying just the opposite. How could Betty not see she's repeating this sad history?

Most politicians don't seem to care anymore about the people they were elected to represent and will do and say anything.

[MNmom]

2. The $33 billion in supplemental funding is such a complete waste of money.

A recent Pentagon report admitted there has been little progress in the last 6 months in Afghanistan "despite enormous expenditures of effort, money and lives by the American and international forces."

So we're in the ninth year, making little progress, spending endless billions......appalling and outrageous and wrong.

[annm4peace]

3. How can they keep the money flowing with so many deaths?